On The Warning Track

With playoff season underway, I thought a baseball reference was appropriate.

The past week has seen a shift in the action…to some degree.

For the last 3 to 4 weeks prior, decent striper, with a smattering of blues, action could be found in the crystal clear waters from mid-island northward and around the bend towards St. George. The boats had been finding them in the channels, but not in overwhelming quantities and they’ve had to work for them. From the sand, it had been an all clam and worm event. With the new moon and the last round of storms, things have changed a bit.

First, the water has muddied up…at least in the back of the bay. That doesn’t mean the bite has slowed. Way, way, way back in the bay last night saw a good number of schoolies and a ten-pounder or two on the bite from sunset on. Action wasn’t blitz-like…slightly more sporadic. Small schools of bass seemed to drifting up and down the shoreline in 20 minute intervals. It would be quiet and then there would be a rolling set of hits and then a lull and then more of the same. In all, a good pre-Nor’easter bite.

The smaller forage, kings and lafayette, seem to have gone and the bass have moved in. Larger bass have been reported under bunker in the pre-dawn hours mid-island, but the steadiest action is from schoolies. Crabs have been calling the blackfish out of their holes in the slab piles in decent numbers too.

On the freshwater side of things, the panfish are still aggressive in all of the island’s ponds. The carp and cats are a little sluggish, but can be coaxed with the right bait. The bucketmouths, younger ones, are stacking up in the shallows and will strike on an assortment of lures thrown at them. Frogs and darker colored worms would be a good selection.